Simple Thanks

In my household, yesterday (Halloween) marked the beginning of the hectic, holiday season.

We run around crazy on a mad dash to the month of December, where people celebrate holidays like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas.

So, today my challenge is designed to slow down the pace a little and get you into the spirit of this month's holiday, THANKSGIVING.

Don't worry, if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, you can still play along!

Before I share my challenge with you, I'm showing you what you'll win:

Your very own 7 Gypsies ATC & Photo Display!

So, here's what you have to do to play along:

I'm keeping it very simple since the one thing we lack during the holidays is TIME. It's so simple, that if you truly want to get into the spirit of "being thankful", you'll play everyday.


1. Throughout your day, think about something that you're THANKFUL for or something that happened to you that day that made you HAPPY and put a smile on your face.

2. When you have a chance, decorate one side of a tag, ATC, piece of chipboard, a photo, etc. about what it is that you're THANKFUL for or what made you HAPPY that day.

3. Remember that your creation should really take you no more than 10 minutes to make. It's all about what made you happy or thankful that day. Your design doesn't need to be elaborate or fancy.

4. On the back of your creation, jot down an act of kindness you're going to do for someone else (how you're going to "pay it forward"). You get to decide when to "pay it forward", by the way.

5. Take a picture of your creation.

6. Leave a comment with a link to your creation. And if it's not too personal, include a sentence on how you're "paying it forward".

7. To play, you only need to submit ONE ENTRY. However, you can submit ONE ENTRY every day to increase your chances of winning the ATC carousel. So since my challenge runs from the 1st to the 15th, you can have a maximum of 15 entries total.

I'm doing this challenge with my family for the entire month of November. This is how we're using our ATC display and how we're "paying it forward":

We started a day early, so we'd have samples to show you today:

Mine:

Back:

Alexander's:

back:

Christopher's:

back: (i will draw a picter for sumwun)

My husband's:

back:


Our tags displayed on our ATC/photo carousel:

We have decided as a family that this challenge will emphasize being thankful in November and giving in December. So all during November, we'll be writing down things that we're thankful for and adding them to our carousel. On the back is a plan for giving back. Then in December, we'll take our creations off of the carousel and fulfill the task on the back --"pay it forward". This is meant to be easy. Some people might have something to be thankful for every day in November - and a plan for giving back every day in December. Some might only have two or three from November. Easy.

But again,TO PLAY ALONG YOU ONLY HAVE TO SUBMIT ONE ENTRY.

Just a few sample tags, to show you how fun and easy this is:








And the one I did this morning that took me all of 5 seconds:


And if your family is playing along with you, it might be helpful to have tags and materials already set aside for them to use:


Can't wait to see all of the things that you're thankful for!!!